Assessing Exhibits for Learning in Science Centers: A Practical Tool

Chantal Lise Barriault

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Museums and Cultural Heritage Libraries and Information Services Conferences and Exhibitions Management

Abstract

This paper presents an exhibit assessment tool for science centers that is based on the premise, supported by learning theories and research, that the level to which a visitor is engaged by an exhibit is a direct indicator of the learning taking place. Observable behaviors are used to distinguish three stages or levels of visitor engagement described as initiation, transition, and breakthrough. A distinctive visitor engagement profile can be constructed for an exhibit that can then be used in assessing the effectiveness of subsequent changes made to the exhibit experience. It is suggested that the visitor engagement and exhibit assessment model describes and predicts relationships between exhibits, visitors, and observable learning behaviors in science centers.

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References

2000Learning from Museums: Visitor Experiences and the Making of Meaning 2009Learning science in informal environments : people, places, and pursuits 2016The Museum Experience 2003Learning Conversations in Museums 2002Learning in the Museum 2005Using the contextual model of learning to understand visitor learning from a science center exhibition 2004Research on students and museums: Looking more closely at the students in school groups 2002Free-choice science education: how we learn science outside of school

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2018Virtual exhibitions and communication factors 2016The Particular Aspects of Science Museum Exhibits That Encourage Students’ Engagement 2013Children learning about biodiversity at an environment centre, a museum and at live animal shows 2010Evaluation of a Third-Generation Zoo Exhibit in Relation to Visitor Behavior and Interpretation Use 2021Families' experiments and conversations at an open‐ended exhibit in a science museum: Individual characteristics and the influence of minimal guidance strategies

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